The prospects positioned to campaign for the top spots in-house and within the game at large.

Prospecting is all about the future, so let's look deep into the coming year and try to figure out who might be topping next year's prospect lists in their respective organizations, as well as who could be moving up, down, or even out, beginning today with the American League.

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We're only halfway through June, but acquiring the Reds slugger should be at the top of five teams' to-do lists.

In what is shaping up as a light midseason trade market, the big prize is Reds left fielder Adam Dunn. Dunn has been a lightning rod for criticism in Cincinnati, where his take'n'rake approach and Three True Outcomes output seen as a drag on the team's offense rather than a boost to it. Criticism of his defense and conditioning--justified to some extent--has taken on a piling-on feel. With the Reds unlikely to win anything in the next two seasons, trading Dunn is one step along the path to winning with Homer Bailey, Jay Bruce, and Drew Stubbs in 2009.

So I'm looking at my disastrous AL LABR pitching staff (King Felix, Shawn Chacon, Daniel Cabrera, Chad Orvella, Mike MacDougal--I'm leaving out Joel Zumaya and Curt Schilling because they can't by themselves undo the damage), and I'm thinking: "Why didn't I go with the all rookie plan?" Six or seven bucks on Francisco Liriano, a few more on Justin Verlander, stick with Zumaya for a buck, maybe throw three or four at Jon Papelbon, a buck on Jered Weaver, and I'd be all set. I could even have rounded out the staff with Jon Lester and Jeremy Sowers on reserve. When in recent memory have so many rookie pitchers in the AL, facing the DH every time through the order, had such fantastic seasons? Probably never. And for that reason, the idea of drafting all rookie pitchers never occurred to me. But should it have? Was there something special about Verlander's or Liriano's minor-league numbers that should have told me these guys would be instant successes?

The minor league season is half over, and Kevin runs through the American League with an eye on the end-of-the-year rankings.

The minor league regular season is over at the end of
August, which means we've reached the halfway mark. Let's take a look at whose
stock has risen and fallen, who the candidates are to be each team's top prospect
in my postseason rankings, and what unresolved questions need to be answered as
we officially move into summer.

Kevin kicks off a look at the systems of every division in the majors, beginning with the AL Central.

This is part one of a six-part series in which I'll look at all 30 major league systems, arranged by division. I'll talk about what's working, what's not, and identify a few names to look out for (or beware of) in 2006.

Friday, July 29, 7:55 p.m. ET: Jamey Newberg reports that the Rangers have dealt Chan Ho Park to the Padres for Phil Nevin. Nevin does not hold no-trade rights to Texas, though Park does have some sort of no-trade provision in his contract. Park was pulled from his start in Toronto.